Archive for July 2020

Smaller habitats worse than expected for biodiversity

July 29, 2020 Add Comment
Smaller habitats worse than expected for biodiversity
Biodiversity's ongoing global decline has prompted policies to protect and restore habitats to minimize animal and plant extinctions. However, biodiversity forecasts used to inform these policies are usually based on assumptions of a simple theoretical model describing how the number of species changes with the amount of habitat. A new study shows that the application of this theoretical model underestimates how many species go locally extinct when habitats are lost.

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Amazonian Indigenous territories are crucial for conservation

July 29, 2020 Add Comment
Amazonian Indigenous territories are crucial for conservation
A new study shows that Indigenous territories represent around 45% of all the remaining wilderness areas in the Amazon, comprising an area of three times the surface of Germany. At a time when the Amazon forests face unprecedented pressures, overcoming divergences and aligning the goals of wilderness defenders and Indigenous peoples is paramount to avoid further environmental degradation.

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How to mix old tires and building rubble to make sustainable roads

July 29, 2020 Add Comment
How to mix old tires and building rubble to make sustainable roads
A recycled blend brings together construction and tire waste, to deliver both environmental and engineering benefits. The material offers a zero-waste solution to a massive environmental challenge - construction, renovation and demolition account for about 50% of the waste produced annually worldwide, while around 1 billion scrap tires are generated globally each year.

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Arguments between couples: Our neurons like mediation

July 29, 2020 Add Comment
Arguments between couples: Our neurons like mediation
When couples argue, mediation improves the outcome of the confrontation. But that's not all: mediation is also linked to heightened activity in key regions of the brain belonging to the reward circuit. This is the first time that a controlled, randomized study has succeeded in demonstrating the advantages of mediation for couple conflicts and identifying a related biological signature.

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Decline of bees, other pollinators threatens US crop yields

July 28, 2020 Add Comment
Decline of bees, other pollinators threatens US crop yields
Crop yields for apples, cherries and blueberries across the United States are being reduced by a lack of pollinators, according to new research, the most comprehensive study of its kind to date. Most of the world's crops depend on honeybees and wild bees for pollination, so declines in both managed and wild bee populations raise concerns about food security, notes the study.

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Invisible barriers cut down on cheating

July 27, 2020 Add Comment
Invisible barriers cut down on cheating
Both see-through and pretend partitions promoted honesty in taking tests, psychology experiments show, suggesting simple environmental cues can nudge children to do the right thing.

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Project creates more powerful, versatile ultrafast laser pulse

July 26, 2020 Add Comment
Project creates more powerful, versatile ultrafast laser pulse
Researchers describe a new device, the ''stretched-pulse soliton Kerr resonator,'' that creates an ultrafast laser pulse that is freed from the physical limits endemic to sources of laser light and the limits of the sources' wavelengths. Applications include spectroscopy, frequency synthesis, distance ranging, and pulse generation.

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Researchers use cell imaging and mathematical modeling to understand cancer progression

July 26, 2020 Add Comment
Researchers use cell imaging and mathematical modeling to understand cancer progression
Using a combination of experiments and mathematical modeling, a team of researchers from the Virginia Tech Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute are beginning to unravel the mechanisms that lie behind tetraploidy - a chromosomal abnormality that is often found in malignant tumors.

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Desert mosses use quartz rocks as sun shades

July 26, 2020 Add Comment
Desert mosses use quartz rocks as sun shades
Desert conditions are harsh, and mosses often spend much of the year in a dormant condition, desiccated and brown, until rain comes. Researchers discovered two species of moss that found a hiding place under translucent milky quartz where they can stay moist and green and continue to photosynthesize and grow while other mosses on the soil surface go dormant. This is the first green plant known to seek such refuge.

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Phage therapy shows potential for treating prosthetic joint infections

July 26, 2020 Add Comment
Phage therapy shows potential for treating prosthetic joint infections
Bacteriophages, or phages, may play a significant role in treating complex bacterial infections in prosthetic joints, according to new research. The findings suggest phage therapy could provide a potential treatment for managing such infections, including those involving antibiotic-resistant microbes.

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Do bicycles slow down cars on low speed, low traffic roads? Latest research says 'no'

July 25, 2020 Add Comment
Do bicycles slow down cars on low speed, low traffic roads? Latest research says 'no'
New research demonstrates that bicycles do not significantly reduce passenger car travel speeds on low speed, low volume urban roads without bicycle lanes. The research shows that differences in vehicle speeds with and without cyclists were generally on the order of 1 mph or less - negligible from a practical perspective.

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Battling harmful algae blooms

July 25, 2020 Add Comment
Battling harmful algae blooms
In two recent studies, marine biologists looked at why one species of algae has some strains that can cause fish kills and others that are non-toxic, while examining an algicidal bacterium found in Delaware's Inland Bays that could provide an environmentally-friendly approach to combating algae blooms.

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Preventing the next pandemic

July 23, 2020 Add Comment
Preventing the next pandemic
A new article shows that an annual investment of $30 billion should be enough to offset the costs of preventing another global pandemic such as COVID-19.

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Young dolphins pick their friends wisely

July 23, 2020 Add Comment
Young dolphins pick their friends wisely
Strategic networking is key to career success, and not just for humans. A study of bottlenose dolphins reveals that in early life, dolphins devote more time to building connections that could give them an edge later on. Analyzing nearly 30 years of records for some 1700 dolphins in Australia, researchers find that dolphins under age 10 seek out peers and activities that could help them forge bonds and build skills they'll need in adulthood.

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Driving immunometabolism to control lung infection

July 23, 2020 Add Comment
Driving immunometabolism to control lung infection
When drugs to kill microbes are ineffective, host-directed therapy uses the body's own immune system to deal with the infection. This approach is being tested in patients with COVID-19, and now a team of researchers has published a study showing how it might also work in the fight against tuberculosis (TB).

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COVID-19 vaccine innovation could dramatically speed up worldwide production

July 23, 2020 Add Comment
COVID-19 vaccine innovation could dramatically speed up worldwide production
A new modified version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein has a 10-fold higher expression rate in cell cultures than an earlier version that forms the basis of some candidates currently in clinical trials. Vaccine manufacturers could swap in the new version and produce vaccine doses at much higher rates, researchers say.

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Flood data from 500 years: Rivers and climate change in Europe

July 22, 2020 Add Comment
Flood data from 500 years: Rivers and climate change in Europe
Studying historical documents from 5 centuries, scientists were able to compare flood events from the past with recent flood events in Europe. This combination of historical and hydrological research provides evidence for the strong influence of climate change on rivers and floodings. Floods tend to be larger, the timing has shifted and the relationship between flood occurrence and air temperatures has reversed.

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Mapping the brain's sensory gatekeeper

July 22, 2020 Add Comment
Mapping the brain's sensory gatekeeper
Researchers have mapped the thalamic reticular nucleus in unprecedented detail, revealing that the region contains two distinct subnetworks of neurons with different functions. The findings could offer researchers much more specific targets for designing drugs that could alleviate attention deficits, sleep disruption, and sensory hypersensitivity.

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International analysis narrows range of climate's sensitivity to CO2

July 22, 2020 Add Comment
International analysis narrows range of climate's sensitivity to CO2
The most advanced and comprehensive analysis of climate sensitivity yet undertaken has revealed with more confidence than ever before how sensitive the Earth's climate is to carbon dioxide. The new research, revealed in a 165 page, peer-reviewed journal article finds that the true climate sensitivity is unlikely to be in the lowest part of the 1.5-4.5°C range.

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